TO a NEW LIFE

(With Love to all those who are leaving home and embarking upon a new venture)

July end and August start marks the bloom of the “bye-bye” season. The cynical ones; PLEASE!! I definitely don’t mean that it’s the peak time for road accidents because of the monsoons.

It’s the time that marks the college reopening (1^st semester start would give the best {actually saddest} feeling) and the all so exciting job beginnings.

Having just completed my college and already into a job I know what it feels like for the latter and with my little sister to join her college soon, I have an in depth fresh feel of the former too.

Now believe me, I have passed through them both and I know how much it hurts. Its like your “old world” coming to an end all of a sudden, what intrigues me more is that this sorrow is much much heavier when the “new world” is on the other side. All those cute and loving messages start pouring in. You know that something exciting is in store for future but somehow, this foresight is all but blinded by the numerous tears our heart cries every day. The whole existence is shaken and for the first time shopping loses its charisma! You look at your mom and you feel, could this moment just stop. Your dad; he’ll say nothing but still you can well see those silent tears. Your arch rival, your own sibling; his/her banter starts making sense and somehow that old guy/girl who was your arch nemesis, makes you smile too. You have these special dishes prepared especially for you and somehow with every morsel, comes the distaste of separation. You joke about your going but deep inside something shatters you, tears you apart and… I am stopping now!!

In this entire trauma, I have something to say that I think will prove of immense help. I know many may call me detached after reading this (my parents did!); but somehow this is the truth and practicality.

Believe me; I know it hurts to be away from your loved ones but the way life is changing around, this day has to come a day. And if it didn’t, you would have cried all the more. Emotions are an inseparable part of us; but do not let them become your weakness. God made emotions so that people may take them in the right stead as the spark to do good for their loved ones. He the Almighty never meant them to become bottlenecks for your growth. If you go to a college, it’s a chance for you to excel in studies and co-curricular and make your parents proud and finally get a good job. I have seen (esp girls, sincere apologies) people lamenting about being away from home and wasting valuable time that could have otherwise been used for something fruitful.

That one month at college you took to get used to the surroundings, the class topper was made in that (because he kept studying and more importantly showing it off to the faculty {tongue in cheek}!!).

That one month at our office you missed your home, your peers trained really well. And I can tell by experience that if not every minute than at least every day counts well.

Don’t take these new surroundings as a challenge; you are not going to fight a war there. Just be yourself and you’ll do well in everything.

Every new turn in your life marks a new beginning, a new path and another chance to be what you want to be. Don’t let emotions get the worst of you, use them for what they are meant for. Ignite the spark they want of you; let your spirits react positively and pave the way for the moment to come that’ll say, “had I not come here, I wouldn’t have been what I am now”(and please I mean it positive and not what your grins meant!!)

Let your parents be proud to have sent you there and let your friends be happy for you.

One day will come and let it that when you look back, you feel that you grabbed the opportunity and became something worthwhile; that leaving home wasn’t futile at all.